TEA. 



99 



Some grants have an advantage over others in having a larger 

 quantity of indigenous tea. These had the first choice and took in 

 large tracts . of land, retaining those portions of it where the in- 

 digenous plants were the most abundant, and these they cut down 

 to form leaf-bearing bushes, thus depriving themselves of seed, which, 

 would be of great value from its freshness, to carry on future exten- 

 sions. The success of a cultivation must depend on the plants raised 

 from seed, for the indigenous trees are so scattered that the labour of 

 picking the leaves and manufacturing tea will hardly be compensated 

 by the value of it. 



There are three or four species of tea plants, the Cbina, tlie 

 Kumaon, the hybrid, and the indigenous, all of which may grow 

 in Cacbar under proper treatment ; but that which will be the most 

 remunerative is still to be ascertained, for no plantation here has had 

 sufficient experience. In Assam the indigenous is found to answer 

 best in this respect, from its forming the largest bush, and yielding in 

 consequence more leaves, but the quality of the tea is said to be coarse, 

 not equal to the fine China. The indigenous, although it may grow 

 spontaneously in the impenetrable jungles of Cachar, is the most 

 difficult to be managed under the hand of man, from a want of the 

 knowledge of its physiology. The year before last the planters 

 removed several lakhs of plants from the jungles into their lands, 

 all or most of which perished from the want of shade and moisture, 

 and injury done to the roots by the carelessness of the labourers 

 employed. 



It is almost certain that tea will not grow in Cachar in exposed 

 situations, especially the indigenous kind, with such dry weather as 

 was experienced the last two years, without considerable expense of 

 watering the young plants ; therefore those who had the misfortune 

 of having lands cleared either by themselves or the Kookies have 

 allowed jungle trees to grow on them again for shade, after losing 

 almost all their plants. This is indeed very discouraging, and it has 

 induced some to throw up their former cultivation and select virgin 

 forests, but such lands can only be procured in the interior, where 

 labour is difficult to be had. 



Lands near villages are not virgin forest, they have been cultivated 

 by the Kookies in various parts, which renders the labour of culti- 

 vating tea on such lands very expensive, by their requiring continual 

 weeding, shading, and watering the plants while young during the 

 dry weather. It was thought in the beginning that lands so cleared 

 would be an advantage, at least in saving the expense of cutting down 

 large trees, but the dry weather experienced the last two years has 

 shown this to be a mistake. 



From the foregoing remarks an idea may be formed of the diffi- 

 culties attending the cultivation of tea in Cachar, but the abundance 

 of the indigenous tea found scattered in every piece of high land, 

 which would be much more plentiful if the Kookies in their system of 

 cultivation did not destroy a great part of it, shows that the plant can 

 be profitably reared, and the failures hitherto are mainly owing to the 

 want of attention to the nature of the plant, which requires shade and 

 moisture in its infancy for two or three years, when it takes a firm 

 hold of the ground, and nothing will destroy it. 



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